1 Sam. 15. 29. And these are his words I am the Lord I change not therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Malach. 3. 6. So that all is sure on God's part and Man hath no cause to waver except he neglect his Duty and if he perish his destruction must be of himself O therefore let us give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure and persevere unto the end And shall we who have so great advantage so many helps so blessed an Opportunity and the Promise of a faithful God neglect and injure our selves so much as to lose this glorious and incomparable prize Shall we come out of Aegypt and come so near the borders of the heavenly Canaan and turn back or refuse to go forward Let us detest and eternally abhor to waver let us go on whatsoever it may cost us § 22. The third Duty is to further and set forward one another in this blessed Work This is the Exhortation of the Apostle Ver. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and good Works THE first Duty exhorted unto seems to be principally Faith in the full assurance whereof we must draw nigh to God The second Hope in the Profession whereof we must persevere The third Charity to which we must provoke one another The words have little difficulty in them and so need not much Explication In them we are exhorted 1. To consider one another 2. To provocation upon consideration 3. To provocation unto Love and good Works 1. This consideration is a Work and Duty of every Christian as he is a Member of the Church and it is universal all are bound unto it The Object is every Christian and Fellow-Member The thing to be considered is not their temporal but their spiritual Carriage and Conversation so far as it shall be manifested and made intelligible unto us The immediate End thereof to know their Life Carriage and Conversation which cannot be so well done as by a serious view and animadversion The Duty is to be performed mutually so as that every Christian may be the person considering another and the person considered by another In this Act though we may make use of our Eyes and outward senses yet we most of all must exercise the apprehensive and judicative faculty of our Understanding 2. We must consider to Provocation This word is but used twice in the New Testament and the Verb no oftner yet we find the Verb frequently taken up by the Septuagint under several Hebrew words It may be taken here either actively to provoke others or passively to be provoked our selves We provoke or stir up others when we see them ignorant forgetful negligent cold backward and that by Information minding them of their Duty perswading moving quickning them unto performance Or if we see our Brethren persecuted we stir up such as are able to pity them and by Works of Mercy to relieve them We are passively provoked our selvs by considering the good Example of others to do the like and follow them 3. The thing which we must provoke others or be provoked our selves unto is Charity for we must be provoked and provoke 1. To Love 2. To good Works which are the fruits of Love and amongst these good Works the principal are Works of Mercy whereby God's poor and persecuted Saints are relieved and comforted And that is no true real Love which is without good Works as that is no true Faith which can be separated either from the Love of Christ or from the Love of Christian Brethren From the words considered in the Context and explained in this Latitude many practical Conclusions are deducible 1. From the Context we are informed that Confession without Practice Love and good Works is defective imperfect and to little purpose Confession of the Mouth Love in the Heart and Works issuing from Love must go together and must never be separated in true and sincere Christians 2. From the word provoking taken passively we may learn this lesson to give good Example unto our Brethren and so let that heavenly Light which is in us shine forth that others may see our good Works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven For we should be the Light of the World and our Lives should be a Mirrour of all divine vertues 3. We must consides and take special notice of such as are eminent in Piety Righteousness and true Holness and follow closely their good Example they give us and tread in their paths which lead to the eternal Rest of Heaven 4. Take provoking actively and the Text informs of another Duty and that is to have care not only of our own Souls but the Souls of others and to use all means to promote their Salvation as well as our own Love teacheth us this Lession for we must Love our Neighbour as our self and the greatest Love we can shew unto him is to endeavour his spiritual and eternal good And we must remember that Love especially Christian Love is diffusive and communicative and in imitation of God doth good unto many Non solum nobis nati aâ—t â—eâ—iati sumus We are neither born nor born again for our selvs The End both of our natural and spiritual Birth is to benefit others as well as our selvs we should sharpen quicken and mightily stir up others to the best things especially to Love and good Works And this is the Duty not only of Ministers in relation to their People or of Parents in relation to their Children or of Masters in relation to their Servants but it 's general and so extensive that no Christian is exempted from the performance And the neglect of this Duty hath been the Cause why there is so little Piety so much Iniquity amongst us and why most men are profane or bare Professor and so few are zealous in the best things 5. From hence we may infer the Excellency of Christian Society Civil Society tends much to the temporal good of person civilly associated but spiritual Society in Religion and Christianity is far more excellent and beneficial Yet this presupposeth the Persons associated with whom we live and must converse to be good for otherwise ill Company is most pestiferous Therefore the Apostle commanded the Corinthians to purge out the old Leaven and scandalous Persons which like a contagion infect others And this doth imply that Christian Assemblies should be kept pure and consist of Orthodox and pious Members and to live amongst such must needs be a great advantage unto poor Souls seeking Salvation § 23. There was a fourth Duty exhorted unto For Ver. 25. They mustnot not for sake the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some was but they must exhort one another and so much the more as they saw the day approaching IN which we have 1. A Duty 2. A Reason to enforce the performance The Duty is expressed 1. Negatively They must not for sake the assembling of themselves
in it self but as it is an object of that hope which is a divine vertue and this eternal Life which though it be not the only yet is the principal object of our Christian hope Sometimes it 's taken properly for the expectation of this glorious and great Reward of eternal felicity It presupposeth Faith whereby we certainly believe it possible to be had and enjoyed with a vehement desire and longing after it And though the distance between us and it be great yet we are patient and willing to stay God's leisure There is a vain and groundless hope which is irrational there is a rational and probable hope yet not so firm and certain there is a firm and certain hope and that is when we have assurance of the thing hoped for This assurance also may admit of degrees for it may be full or not full This full assurance is the second thing and it 's that which removes all doubts and fears and this it may do at sometimes and not at others it may be interrupted or continued to the end This place speaks of full assurance of hope to the end This assurance will not be had much less continued to the end by sloth by diligence it may And so we are in the third place come unto the Duty which is to use all means and that with diligence whereby we may attain this assurance and continue it full unto the end And here he implies that they had been formerly diligent and so diligent as to have attained this assurance yet here he tells them 1. That they must continue the same diligence to the end 2. That the same diligence zeal affection they had shewed formerly being continued would serve the turn Assurance or certainty is either of the thing or the person The latter presupposeth the former for there can be no certainty to the person of a thing which is not certain in it self This certainty is in respect of the person who is either God or Man Eternal life is certain in respect of God who is able to give it and hath decreed so to do And that it might be certain unto us and that before the time of possession he hath signified his purpose bound himself by promise and confirmed his promise by Oath so that on his part it 's fully and every way certain Yet because the promise requireth a qualification and a performance of duty in the person to whom the promise is made therefore before we can be certain we must not only perform the duty and have the qualification but we must certainly know that we have done that which the Promise requireth and are duly qualified And the more clear and full the knowledg is the more full the assurance of hope and if this full knowledg continue this full assurance continueth to the end which is no groundless presumption but a firm and well-grounded hope Yet this is so to be understood that so far as Man may neglect his Duty and abate in the Qualification so far this assurance may abate If man's diligence in performing the Duty continue to the end this full assurance will do so too For to them who by patient continuance in well-doing shall seek Glory Honour and Immortality God will render eternal life Rom. 2. 7. Yet this patient continuance in well-doing depends upon God's special assistance and support For it 's God that worketh in us the Will and the Deed of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And this is the reason why we must work out our Salvation with fear and trembling The full assurance not only depends upon the merit and intercession of Christ the Decree Promise and Oath of God but also requireth the diligence of Man and the continual support of God God's support assistance and concurrence are alwayes ready yet so is not Man's diligence For the best and most confirmed Saints on Earth may sometimes be remisse and so have their failings whereupon follow desertions to their great discomfort Yet neither do their failings wholly annihilate Grace nor frustrate the final event but God sometimes in his wonderful wisdom by with-drawing his comforts awakens and quickens them to Duty and useth outward Afflictions as Chastisements to improve their inherent virtues and corrects them And in that he promiseth to be their Father he binds himself to Chastise them if need require Otherwise he should not take them as Sons but account them as Bastards and so utterly neglect them So that we may apply that of the Psalmist in this case If his Children for sake my Law and walk not in my Judgments If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquities with Stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail Psal. 89. 30 31 32 33. So God's adopred Children may have their failings yet God will Chastise them that their Covenant may stand firm unto the end Yet let every one be diligent to the end and look for no comfort but upon performance of Duty For that God who is most merciful will be holy and just and he requires his Children should be so too Therefore let all those who have made so great a progress in Grace as to attain a full assurance of hope and a sight of their heavenly Canaan go on with all care and diligence for it 's a sad thing after that we are upon the borders of our heavenly Country to be turned back and wander in this Wilderness For Ver. 12. We must not be slothfull but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises § 14. THE Duty exhorted unto may be sufficiently understood by what hath been said already but that 's not sufficient it must be performed Yet who will go about it except it be reasonable And to manifest this is the next Work of the Apostle declaring the Reasons and Motives the first whereof is from Examples 1. Of many not named 2. Of Abraham in particular Examples do prove the Duty to be not onely possible but to have been actually performed and as such they do not bind though they may encourage but because the matter of them is something commanded they may and do oblige and not onely so but God commands us to imitate them and for that end makes them known and proposeth them yet in these patterns there is a special reason and motive superadded for as they by Faith and Patience obtained the Promises so shall we if we follow them The Persons intended are patterns for imitation in two things 1. The end whereat they aimed which was the attainment of the Promises 2. The means whereby they attained this end Faith Patience 1. They attained the Promises By Promises understand the things promised which were spiritual deliverances blessings and rewards and in one word Salvation yet temporal Mercies in reference to spiritual are not to be excluded For God
habitation is here meant For only they who persevere unto the end shall be his House in this manner Though it may be said That we are his House now and shall be his House for ever in a more glorious manner if we persevere unto the end This is the meaning of the words The force of the argument from them thus understood is evident and very great For if this blessed and glorious estate of being Christ's House will certainly follow upon the final perseverance in sincere Christianity how much will it move and work upon such as believe and certainly hope that upon this duty performed so incomparable a Reward will follow And how careful will they be in case of all means which conduce to this perseverance For the greater good believed to follow upon any performance the greater and more powerful the motive is This is the second Reason § 11. The third follows and that is from the penalty that will follow upon non-perseverance and Apostacy This reason is annexed to a dehortation from hardening of the heart and apostacy which is unbelief yet this dehortation presupposeth the principal exhortation to Faith and continuance therein to the end and therefore because it is a reason of the dehortation from the contrary sin it must needs be a reason of the exhortation to the duty opposed to that sin It 's taken out of Psal. 95. from ver 8. unto the end And though it seem to be directed unto the People of those wherein the Psalm was composed yet it directly points at the Gospel and the dayes of the same In that part of the Psalm we may observe 1. The dehortation 2. The reason why they should take heed of the sin dehorted from The reason is from an example of the like Sin punished in their fore-fathers The Sin in one word was Unbelief expressed and declared by the effects thereof which were tempting of God and so offending him because they erred in their hearts and did not know or take notice of his wayes The punishment was exclusion out of Canaa◠their rest intended by God Which punishment was 1. Absolutely denounced by way of a final and peremptory sentence passed with an Oath 2. Executed by overthrowing their Carkasses in the Wildernesse The sum of all this was to let them know That if they sinned as their Fathers did they should certainly suffer the like punishment The conclusion inferred hence is That they must have a special care to persevere in the Faith and take heed of Apostacy This may suffice to be observed upon the words of the Psalmist § 12. The next thing is the Application of these words of the Psalmist unto the present Hebrews to whom he writes Wherein he 1. Presseth the Duty upon them according to the words of the Psalm 2. That his counsel might be more forcible and the Duty more diligently and carefully performed he useth two reasons The first from the benefit which will follow 2. From the punishment they must suffer if they fall away 1. The duty is the same which was formerly urged and that is perseverance and constancy in their Christian Profession which is opposed to unbelief and apostacy which is a departing from the living God which in the Psalmist is the hardning of the heart For that passage of the Psalmist presupposeth a Day and Time of God's speaking to mortal man and exhorteth man in that Day to hear and obey constantly till the Day of God's Voice be ended and dehorteth from hardness of heart Disobedience and Apostacy In this place the Apostle making the same application to the Children and Posterity which David did to their Fathers living in his time declareth the Duty 1. Negatively or rather apotreptic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of dehortation 2. Affirmatively by way of exhortation to that which will be a means of continuance and perseverance The dehortation is Ver. 12. Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of Unbelief in departing from the living God Where we must consider 1. The evil dehorted from 2. The dehortation it self The evil is an evil of Sin not of punishment where we have the root of it in the primary subject an evil heart of Unbelief the fruit and effect departing from the living God The heart is the primary and proper subject and also the cause of sin yet the heart as the heart is not the cause of actual sin but as an evil heart and here an evil heart of Unbelief Unbelief may in this place signify perfidiousnesse when the heart inclines to deny and forsake that Truth which was formerly professed and to violate that promise of Obedience made to God at the first entrance into Christianity and so actual unbelief is a breach of Covenant This unbelieving heart is an evil that is a disobedient impious perverted heart This is the basest temper and most malignant quality of the Soul whereby it 's most contrary to the most just and holy Law of God and the conditions of the Covenant of Grace That it is so is evident from the act or effect thereof which is to depart from the living God This departing from God is actual and formal apostacy which is so directly contrary to Perseverance This is signified by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Orginal which is to renounce something formerly received and acknowledged It 's like to a rebellion revolt and renouncing of a lawful Soveraign formerly acknowledged by allegiance and fidelity promised These Hebrews had received the Gospel acknowledged Christ their Saviour made a Covenant with the living God to whom they submitted themselves as their Soveraign Lord Redeemer by Christ. In their Baptism they had solemnly professed their Faith in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and promised obedience To deny this profession or this Faith professed to break this promise to forsake their Christianity turn Jews or Heathens especially after that by Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost that were so strongly convinced of the Truth must needs be an hainous sin issuing from an evil and malignant heart indeed There is an hardning of the heart against the light and motives of the Gospel when Christ is first tendered and not yet received There is an hardning of the heart against the Truth once received this latter not the former is Apostacy and the Sin here meant both hainous both forbidden by God both tending to eternal Death yet this more then the other And here it 's to be noted that positive unbelief blindness and hardness of heart are often taken for the same The Duty therefore is to take heed lest there be such an heart in any of them Where it 's implyed 1. That every one was in danger 2. That this sin began in the heart 3. Therefore all and every one must be very wary careful diligent to avoid the same and all the causes thereof For if they were not well-grounded in the principles of Christianity they
might be deluded by the Sophisms of the unbelieving Jews and their cunning Emissaries if they were not strong in Faith and their former holy resolutions they might the more easily be overcome by the sear of persecution and the love of their Temporal Peace Safety Estates Liberty Lives The reason of this dehortation was because he knew that if they did not carefully avoid the contrary which was destructive of perseverance they could not persevere To avoid this sin he adds an exhortation wherein he prescribes a means tending to continue us in the Truth saying Vet. 13. But exhort one another daily whilst it 's called to Day lest any of you be hardued through the deceitfulness of sin § 13. Though we may exhort one another in private yet this seems to have some reference to their publick Assemblies for Religious Worship For as the Psalm was composed for the publick Worship and to be sung as a preparative to the same especially that part which is concerning the hearing of God's Word So in the times of the Gospel it was used by some Christian Churches to prepare the People assembled as for other Duties so for that of hearing the Gospel Thus we find it placed in our Liturgy And upon due consideration it will appear to be an excellent place of Scripture and most fit for that end In the words we have 1. An exhortation 2. A reason In the exhortation we have 1. The duty 2. The time of performance The duty is mutual exhortation and encouragement of one another The time is daily while it 's said To Day The reason is to prevent obduâ—ation lest any of you be hardned Before I enter upon the particular explication of these words I must inform the Reader That the Apostle having recited the words of the Psalm in the application of them follows the order of the principal words and parts thereof The first was Harden not your heart this he insists upon ver 12 13 14. The second The Fathers provoked God this he takes up in ver 15 16. The third God was grieved with that Generation this you find ver 17. The fourth is The shutting of these unbelieving Ancesters out of God's Rest this you may read of ver 18 19. The fifth is Entring into rest granted and promised to God's People after the days of David This takes up the greatest part of the Chapter following The duty exhorted unto is to exhort one another so that it is an exhortation to exhortation Where we must consider 1. What it is to exhort 2. Who they be who are concerned in this duty to perform it 1. To exhort is to move stir up encourage comfort strengthen perswade The end is confirmation and continuance in Christianity The means are proposing the divine Precepts the glorious Reward promised the fearful Punishments threatned to manifest the clear and pure Truth of the Gospel and the Divine confirmations of the same with the falshood of all contrary Doctrines To these we may add their publick and private Prayers with the Sacraments 2. This Duty concerned all and every one For every Christian according as he hath power and opportunity is bound as to convert others so to edisy and confirm one another converted and mutually further and promote their Salvation And this is a special work of Christian Charity which we owe one to another is Christian Brethren and fellow-Members of the same Body Yet the greater our Abillties and the more excellent out Gifts the greater is our Obligation And Ministers of all others are most concerned in it and the end of out Christian Assemblies for Religious Worship and Discipline is to do this work But how guilty are we of neglect how careless are we of this work How justly may God charge the Blood of the Souls of our Apostate Brethren upon us Most men hinder and that many wayes and few further the Salvation of their Brethren It 's high time for us all to reform in this particular This is the Duty to exhort one another the time limited for the performance is to Day whilst it 's said to Day For so the Psalmist saith To Day if you will hear his Voyce This presupposeth a time when God will speak and we must hear God speaks by his Word and here in particular by the Gospel and the Professors and Ministers thereof By it he Commands all men to repent and believe and being once converted to persevere unto the end and by it he promiseth to such as obey a glorious Reward He is further ready to accompany this Word of the Gospel with the power of his Spirit without which man cannot perform his Duty This is that which we call Vocation so that to Day is the time of Vocation granted to any People or to single Persons And whilst God grants to any the Word and Spirit which are the means of conversion He may be said to Call and Man is bound to hear and be Obedient Some think this Day to be the whole time of every man's life whilst he is a member of the visible Church yet we find that many of the Israelites were by an Oath excluded out of God's Rest before they dyed and that Jerusalem had by her hardness of heart made her case desperate and her ruine unavoidable long before it was destroyed so likewise many a man's Day and Time of possibility and hope to be saved is spent and ended before his life determine Therefore by Day in this place is understood in a special manner the present time because no man is certain of the future Therefore they must exhort one another whilst it 's said to Day that is presently and in no wise delay or intermit the performance of this Duty The reason of this exhortation is from the end which is the preventing hardness of heart through the deceitfulness of Sin This presupposeth that sin is deceitful and implies that the deceitfulness thereof will harden the heart Sin in it self is base and filthy and an object of abhomination and except it be represented in some appearance of good every one would abhor it Satan therefore when he would tempt and perswade man to it deludes his Understanding with false colours of Pleasure or Profit or something desirable but conceals the baseness and the sad and woful consequents thereof This outward appearance of goodness makes it like a bait fastned on an hook and man being greedy of the bait swallows the hook When he finds no mischief to follow upon the Commission immediately he goes on by degrees till he acquire an habit which hardens the heart makes it sensless blots out the Characters of divine Truth and so in the end changeth the very quality of the heart Whereas man before was very pliable and ready to receive the impressions of Divine Truth now he is blinded and become stupid Divine commands promises threats exhortations admonitions cannot work upon him and then how easily will he be perswaded to fall off
This Righteousness so far as it reacheth is true and tends much towards eternal life and the estate of such as do attain it is comfortable and hopeful But there are usually defects in it and those very great For 1. It doth not proceed to a deep and firm radication nor 2. To any habitual predominancy over all lusts nor 3. Will it endure any great tryall There may be and are indeed in many Persons Knowledge Faith Love Hope and Comfort and these not meerly Moral but Supernatural and divine caused not onely by the outward revelation of the Word but also by inward illumination and inspiration of the Spirit yet some of these if they be Persons of great estate will be unwilling to sell all and give unto the poor or restore four-fold to those they have wronged or forfeit credit liberty their whole estate and hazard their lives out of Love to their dear Saviour yet all these must be done and that freely and willingly before we can attain to an estate of Confirmation 4. Yet this Confirmation doth not depend upon the radication and intensive measure of their divine vertues but upon the Will and support of God which certain support Man cannot expect by vertue of the Covenant before he arrive at such a measure of Grace and performance of Duty For it 's the meet Mercy of God who delights in an upright heart which moved him to promise this Confirmation to persons of integrity who have overcome the World for till Faith improve so far as to obtain this Victory and that clearly Man may fall and the desires and fears of the World may the more easily prevail against him and God may justly desert him because he neglects to come up unto his terms and refuseth the conditions and qualification necessary to a compleat real and sincere Disciple to whom alone Confirmation by vertue of the Promise is due That which supports a Man against all temptations and prevents Apostacy is strength this strength is internal and external and both from God The internal strength is such a measure of Faith in Christ in Man as is sufficient to overcome the World and obtain a clear victory The external strength is that power of God superadded to the former which not only continues and preserves the inward power of Grace but also is continually ready to supply all defects and make the final issue infallible and most certain For there is a glorious Inheritance reserved in Heaven for those who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed is the last time 1 Pet. 1. 4 5. Where we have Faith within and the power of God without and the preservation of the parties regenerate unto Salvation and final enjoyment as the effect of both Neither of these belong unto those which have only the Spirit of preparation and not of inhabitation For though they are in a fair way unto and in good hope of both yet they have attained neither Yet there are others which find the victorious power of Faith within them and having received the Spirit of Adoption testifying that they are the Sons of God and the first fruits of Glory may be assured of their preservation to the end according to the tenour of the Promises made in many places of Scripture to such as are so qualified as they know themselves to be § 12. Thus far the Apostle's Resolution and the Reasons thereof Now followeth his exhortation which comes in very seasonably after his former Doctrine of Apostacy which was terrible and the latter concerning the happy and safe estate of such as were qualified as they were For lest the one should occasion dispair and the other presumption and security by this exhortation he intimates that the very estate of confirmation in this life doth not exempt from duty and diligence on Man's part not exclude some kind of desertion on God's part For this Confirmation differs from that which shall be in Heaven where there shall be no Sin no Temptation but perfect holiness without any danger and a plenary possession of the blessed Inheritance For the estate of the Confirmed in this time of mortality is like that of Israel after that they had broken the main strength of the Canaanites divided the Land by lot and did begin to enjoy it But after all this was done there remained several parts of the Land not yet reduced nor totally subdued And God did so order it to try them and also to continue and improve their Military skill and valour So it is with God's regenerate Ones his true Israelites for though they have broken the main strength of the Enemy and as it were in one piâ—cht Battle obtained a clear Victory yet the remainders of corruption may sometimes put them hard to it and much annoy them And it 's God's Will it should be thus to teach them humbly to depend upon him and that continually to exercise their heavenly virtues to keep their watch and never put off their Armour till they have obtained a total and final Victory The principal things to be observed in this Exhortation are 1. The Duty exhorted unto 2. The Reasons why it should be performed For he that will exhort effectually must 1. Let the parties exhorted know distinctly what the Duty is 2. Demonstrate that it's very reasonable to perform it and the more clearly and fully both these are done the more effectually will the heart be moved For the rational Creature must be moved rationally Every exhortation implies the desire of the Oratour or party exhorting otherwise why doth he perswade why doth he exhort therefore saith the Apostle I desire you In this it differs both from a Command and a Petition and if the party desiring be excellent or beloved and the thing desired be reasonable and advantageous it should prevail much If such a person as Paul so worthy and so excellent shall desire the performance of a thing which is not only convenient but necessary to the attaining of eternal life how ready should we be to do it § 13. But To know the Duty is most considerable and it is Perseverance the same which was formerly urged Chap. 2. 3 4. This duty is proposed affirmatively and negatively and the performance of it concerned all and every one For thus he writes Ver. 11. And we desire that every one of you shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Ver. 12. That you be not slothfull THere is no mention of Perseverance in the Text yet it 's sufficiently implyed for if they must shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end then they must persevere But to understand the duty more fully let us enquire 1. What hope is 2. What the full assurance of hope 3. What it is to shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Hope is sometimes taken for the thing hoped for not as it is
to null and abrogate it The effect of this Gospel upon the Expiation made by Christ is the Perfection that is the Justification and Sanctification of sinful guilty Man whereby he is freed from the sad and woful Consequents of Sin and especially from the condemning vindicative Justice of God and eternal death and so may draw nigh to God Where we must consider 1. What it is to draw nigh to God 2. Why this Clause is added To draw nigh to God is sometimes a Duty somtimes a Reward and Priviledge given for Christ's merit to such as perform the Duty As it is a Duty it 's sometimes a coming to the place where God hath put his Name and where he vouchsafed his special presence as in the Tabernacle and Temple he did for to worship him It 's sometime a worshipping of God or performing any divine Service unto him for then we pretend to leave the World and turn our backs upon all things and to present our selves before his Throne as in Prayer and other Duties Again it is a turning from our sins with a Resolution to forsake them and an engagement of our selvs and that with our whole hearts to be his Servants and obedient Subjects And this we cannot do effectually without Faith in Christ and the further we depart from sin the nearer we draw to him and are more like unto him This is a Duty But to have peace with God to be reconciled to him so as to have free access with boldness and confidence to the Throne of Grace where he sits as propitiated by the Blood of Christ and as a Father looks upon us as his Children is a great and gracious reward and special priviledg and presupposeth the former Duty performed and the party performing it in the state of Justification and Reconciliation For being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have acccess by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand c. Rom. 5. 1 2. To understand this more fully we must consider That the words are in some sort Metaphorical wherein the Apostle alludes either to the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai where he represented himself very terrible as sitting in the Throne of Justice and not of Grace and Mercy so as that to draw nigh unto him was a present Death The People must keep at a distance only Moses might come near and ascend the Mount which was a special and extraordinary favour or he may allude unto the legal dispensation under which no unclean person as a Leper or one defiled by touching a dead body or some other way might come into the Congregation or nigh the Tabernacle or Temple so as to worship with God's People before they were cleansed and purified but upon their purification finished they might draw nigh and come with the rest of God's unpolluted Servants to Worship and to serve their God so as to have communion with him and receive mercies blessings and comforts from him So in this place such as are perfected that is justified and sanctified through Faith by the Blood of Christ have liberty to draw nigh to God as to a Father to seek and receive mercies and increase of Grace and heavenly Comforts and have sweet communion with him Before their justification and reconciliation they stood at a distance from their God and looked upon him as a consuming Fire and to draw near was danger though even then they might have some hope of mercy They are like the Publican standing a far off and beating upon his Brest and saying Lord be merciful to me a Sinner but when their Consciences are purged and their Souls by Faith are cleansed in the Blood of Christ they then have liberty and draw nigh to serve and worship God with confidence that he will accept their persons prayers and other Services This is the drawing nigh to God here meant yet you must know that these approaches are not so nigh in this life but that there is some distance But in the place of Glory the approach shall be so near as that it will take away all distance and we shall have immediate and full communion with our God The reason why this Clause was added which is the second thing is to let us know how far more excellent the Gospel is above the Law For by the Law no Man was brought nigh to God or might approach unto him in this manner It 's true they might draw nigh to the place of God's special presence if legally clean or cleansed and by observation of the Law escape some temporal Judgments obtain some temporal Blessings and enjoy some earthly Comforts yet continue spiritually unclean guilty and liable to eternal penalties be far from God with their hearts remain unjustified unsanctified and so could have no spiritual peace with God nor any heavenly comfort neither could they draw nigh to God with boldness so as to have any near communion with him To draw nigh to God as to a Father in Christ is a far more excellent priviledg and could not be obtained by the Law Some do make these words a reason to prove that Perfection was had by the Priest-hood of Christ because by it we draw nigh to God And it 's true that by Christ as a Priest and the Gospel we obtain this priviledg which the Law could not give us For to draw nigh to God presupposeth the party approaching perfected and sanctified and by what we are sanctified by that we draw nigh and this priviledg doth prove perfection by the Gospel as the effect doth prove and manifest the cause So that the argumentation in form is this By what we draw nigh to God by that we are perfected But by the Priest-hood of Christ and the Gospel we are perfected Therefore by them we draw nigh to God For as we must not seperate the Levitical Priest-hood and the Law so neither must we divide the Priest-hood of Christ and the Gospel In all this discourse two things are observable 1. That God did not take away the Levitical Priest-hood and the Law till he brought in the Priest-hood of Christ and the Gospel 2. That he took away that which was imperfect to bring in that which was perfect and far more excellent And all this was done as to manifest his wisdom so especially his mercy and serious intention to save man For he would leave nothing undone that was necessary for the compleating of man's eternal Salvation For if the Levitical Priest-hood and the Law could have justified Man and so given life He had never sent Christ and made him a Priest and revealed the Gospel For then both Christ and Gospel had been needless and useless to that end For as the Apostle saith If there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by that Law Gal. 3. 21. But because both Law and Priest-hood were insufficient therefore he decreed
offer the Tabernacle but in the Tabernacle did not minister it but in it And the Apostle seems to take his expression from Exod. 29. 30. where it 's said That that Son which is Priest in Aaron 's stead shall put on the holy garments seven dayes when he cometh into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to minister in the holy place or Sanctuary Where we have 1. A Minister that must minister or officiate 2. The Tabernacle of the Congregation into which he must come 3. The Sanctuary where he must officiate The very same words of Minister Sanctuary Tabernacle are used by the Septuagint in that place which the Apostle taketh up in this place And though the Body of Christ may be called a Tabernacle yet that 's nothing except it be so taken here And we find the word here turned Sanctuary signifying Heaven Heb. 9. 12. and also Ver. 24. of that Chapter makes it more plain where it 's written That Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us Where we may observe 1. That the word which there is turned holy places and Ver. 12. before the holy place is here translated Sanctuary 2. That this Sanctuary or holy places into which Christ entred was not made with hands which is the same with not pitched by Man 3. This place is said to be Heaven it self 4. That Christ doth minister there by his Intercession for us after that he had offered his great Sacrifice and by the Blood thereof entred into the heavenly Sacrary within the Veil To signify this the inner Veil of the Temple rent instantly upon the death of Christ to signify that the great High-Priest was entring Heaven with his Blood 2. The Excellency of this Tabernacle is set forth 1. By the quality 2. The Cause The Quality it 's the true Tabernacle True is not here opposed to that which is feigned or nothing at all but to the Typical Tabernacle which was a real and true sacred Building yet so far inferiour to this that comparatively it might be said to be nothing or but a shadow at the best and this is the Substance For though that was glorious and honoured with God's special presence yet earthly things are poor to heavenly though we who never saw the inward glory of Heaven may admire them The Cause is expressed assirmatively pitched by God negatively and not by Man By both which is signified the excellency of it far above any Work and Building made by the power and skil of Man For the efficient power and skil of Man is nothing to the efficiency of God whose Power is almighty and Wisdom infinite and who hath made Heaven a far more glorious place than any on Earth 3. Christ is the Minister of this Sanctuary and Tabernacle to minister and officiate in it For every High-Priest must have some Temple or sacred place wherein he must minister and serve for Priest-hood Temple and Service must go together When the Temple was destroyed by the Chaldeans the High-Priest might pray but he could not offer Sacrifice burn Incense expiate Sin by entring the Holy of Holies with blood These Services were confined by God's Institution to that House and sacred Building after once it was consecrated Neither could they perform such Services till it was re-built and dedicated again Neither have the unbelieving Jews any High-Priest that can do any such thing since the second Temple was demolished by the Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Minister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to minister and serve and these two words are often used by the Septuagint For so they turn several Hebrew words and especially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which both signify to serve in general but many times to serve God the Supream Lord and to worship him And though the performance of this Service be the general Duty of all even of private Persons yet there are certain parts of this Service proper to the Priests and some to the High-Priest who is not a private but a publick Minister as the rest of the Priests be and mediates between God and the People and by whom the People offer their Services to God The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in the New Testament and doth signify not onely to perform the Levitical but also the Evangelical Service and from this Verbe comes Liturgy a Form or Directory for the Worship of God In this place a Minister is 1. A Priest 2. An High-Priest 3. The great High-Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary Christ Jesus And here it might be observed that a Minister is not a contemptible but an honourable Title as given not onely to the Levitical Pontiff but to the Apostles and to Christ himself The Text thus explained contains an Argument to prove the excellency of Christ above the Legal High-Priest for he indeed was a Minister and did officiate yet he did this onely in an earthly Sanctuary and Tabernacle but Christ officiates as an High-Priest in Heaven And this second Verse may be part of the former Sum and Abridgment and a Conclusion deduced from the former words For if Christ be an High-Priest in the Heavens then he must needs be the Minister of an heavenly Sanctuary yet it 's so deduced from the former that it brings in new matter and gives occasion of a new Discourse concerning Christ's Ministration for if he be a Minister of a Sanctuary he must officiate and amongst other things offer something to God Ver. 3. For every High-Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat to offer § 3. THis Text must be examined 1. In its relation to that which goes before 2. In it self 3. In reference to what follows First It relates to Chap. 5. 1. where in the Description of an High-Priest we have the very words For 1. He must be taken from amongst men 2. Ordained for men in things pertaining to God 3. Thus he is ordained for to offer both Gifts and Sacrifices For there we have his Election Ordination and Ministration And hitherto the Apostle having spoken of his Election and Ordination now begins to treat of his Ministration in offering Gifts and Sacrifices for Sin The nearer Connexion is with the Text immediately antecedent and 1. With the word Minister for if he be a Minister he must minister and officiate by offering 2. With the word Tabernacle For if that signify the Body of Christ as Beza Junius and Dr. Goug◠with divers others do understand the place He must have his Body to offer But of this I have said something already and shall have occasion to say more hereafter The words in themselves are discursive for the Apostle argues thus Every High-Priest being ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices must have somewhat to offer But Christ is ordained
Doctrine so it is also a ground of the future Exhortations For if there had been no way made or if there had been a way and we could have had no liberty of accesse unto the Throne of Grace by the Blood of Christ or if there had been a way and liberty to enter and yet no High-Priest set over the House of God it would be in vain to continue in the profession of Christian Faith or to perform any of those Duties exhorted unto in the following part of the Epistle But seeing we have all these and none of them nor any other thing necessary to Salvation is wanting but eternal life is possible and certainly upon these Reason to be obtained therefore we have a great motive and encouragement to go on and continue in the performance of the Duties exhorted unto For the ground of our hope is the possibility and certainty of attaining eternal Salvation and the ground of our practise and perseverance is our Hope which is the stronger because a way is made a liberty to enter obtained and a Priest set over God's House who will secure us of eternal bliss if we continue to believe and obey him to the end This is so much the more an effectuall reason because none of these could be had by the Law § 19. But what are these Duties exhorted unto They are several yet such as have great affinity one with another and all tend to one end The first this is Ver. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of â—aith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water THE Apostle in these words and those which follow exhorts to severall Duties 1 To draw near to God ver 22. 2. To persevere in their Christian Profession ver 23. 3. To stir up one another to Love and good Works ver 24. 4. To Continue in Christian Communion ver 25. In the first Exhortation we may observe 1. The Duty exhorted unto and to be performed 2. The manner of performance 3. The preparation of the persons who must perform it For the Duty is to no purpose no wayes profitable if it be not 1. Performed 2. Performed in due manner 3. Performed by persons prepared and duly qualified 1. To draw near to God for so the words are to be understood is to Worship God in general in particular to pray and seek Remission and eternal Life from him This is to make use of the way Consecrated through Christ's Flesh and of our liberty to enter into the Holiest procured by the Blood of Christ. It 's the same with coming boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace for seasonable Help Chap. 4. 16. It 's the same with coming to God by Christ to sue for Mercy Chap. 7. 25. The party therefore to whom we come is God yet considered as sitting in the Throne of Grace and propitiated by the Blood of Christ. The drawing nigh or coming to God thus considered is a motion not of the Body but the Soul whereby it turns away both the mind and heart from all other objects and turneth and addresseth it self unto God to converse with him for his Favour Mercy Blessings that it may obtain them from him And it fixeth upon him and abides with him till the business with him be finished This Coming is called Worshipping as Worshippers are called Commers ver 1. 2. This being the Duty it must be performed with a pure heart and in full assurance of Faith this is the manner and the due qualification of the act of drawing nigh to God without which it can neither please God nor profit Man This qualification is two-fold 1. The purity of Heart 2. The full assurance of Faith 1. It must be performed with the Heart For all serious actions issue from the Heart and whatsoever is not done with Knowledg and Will is not the action of a Man as a Man and a rational Creature The Worship of God whereby we seek eternal happiness requires both and in the highest degree of our activity because in it we have to do with God concerning the most weighty business of all others yet we may Worship with the Heart and not with a true Heart that is without sincerity The Heart is then sincere when according to God's Will it 's firmly fixed upon and aims chiefly at the chief End God's Glory and eternal Happiness desiring and intending both far above all other things and this out of clear Understanding And here it 's to be observed That sincerity is required not only in the person Worshipping but in the action of Worship He that is habitually sincere may so fâ—â— forget himself as to worship without sincerity and the principal part essence power reality and truth of that Worship which God requires For this truth and sincerity is the very Life and Soul of acceptable Worship If we incline or have secret and remote thoughts of Vain-glory of falling off from our profession or returning to Sin then our Heart is not perfect sincere upright and our worship must needs be like our hearts which ought in the first place wholly and folely be given and offered to God By this we easily understand and both how few do Worship God sincerely and how defective the Worship of the best may often prove 2. Besides sincerity is required a full assurance of Faith Faith is both a belief and a confidence and assurance full assurance is an higher degree of both As a belief it 's grounded on God's Word in general revealing the Truths and Propositions to be believed as a confidence it 's grounded on the promise a special part of God's Word The belief goes before confidence follows after as depending upon the belief for the promise is first a Truth and so to be considered before it can be conceived under the formal notion of a Promise He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him That God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him is a truth or true proposition and is to be believed and it is a Promise because therein God signifies that as he is able so he is willing to reward such any he hath in the Gospel signified his unchangeable Will and Decree so to do and hath bound himself both by his Decree and his Word which is the signification of the Decree The full assurance of this Faith is grounded upon the infallible Truth of his Word and the fidelity and immutability of his Promise And where as this full ssurance is thought generally an high degree of Faith yet Faith is no divine Faith without it For no man receives the Word and Promise of God as the Word and Promise of God that wants this full assurance For the firmness of Faith should answer the firmness of God's Word If this full assurance were an assurance of our particular estate
dear Affection to them who are enriched with them So that sinful Men may hope for this City yet upon condition that they will be Pilgrims and Strangers in this World and desire above all other things this better and heavenly Country For to clear this Doctrine more fully we must observe That the World morally and spiritually considered is divided into two Societies the one is of the Devil the other of God This distinction the learned Father took notice of when he wrote his excellent Treatise De Civitate Dei For all men either seek their Rest and Happiness on Earth or an eternal Peace in Heaven and by Nature till God transplant us we are not only in but of this earthly Society and in the Kingdom of Darkness and under the Power and Dominion of Satan and whilest we are in this Kingdom of Satan we are Strangers to the Common-wealth and City of God But when God out of his unspeakable Mercy hath called us made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and delivered us from the Power of Darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Colos. 1. 12. 13. Then we are no more Strangers and Forreigners but Fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Ephes. 2. 19. Being once naturalized and made Burgesses of Heaven we have our Conversation in Heaven and carry our selves as Children of a Celestial extraction and the Progeny of the eternal King This Doctrine doth not only inform us of our Duty but ministreth unspeakable Comfort if we do perform it For if our Goods and earthly Estates be sequestred plundred oâ— any wayes taken from us we have a better Estate in Heaven If we be disgraced and reproached in this World yet we shall be Kings and Priests and for ever honoured in Heaven If we be banished and persecuted from place to place so that we can find no Rest and Safety but are wearied out with Removals yet we have a place of Rest and Safety and eternal Abode in Heaven and of this no man can dispossess and diffeisin us If our Sufferings be grievous many and continue long yet we have a City where is no Suffering Pain Persecution Poverty Sorrow where God will wipe away all Tears In this City are eternal Riches Pleasures Honours Peace Safety and full Joy there is nothing wanting which the heart of Man can desire This is that City which as it is the expectation so it 's the universal Comfort of the Sons of God And though the time of our Pilgrimage seem long and tedious yet it will shortly expire and then begins our everlasting Rest for God hath prepared a City for us § 17. The Apostle proceeds in proposing Abraham unto us as a Pattern of Imitation and instanceth in a fourth Work or Effect of his Faith for thus we read Ver. 17. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered his only begotten Son Ver. 18. Of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Ver. 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a Figure IN these words we may observe 1. Abraham's Obedience 2. His Faith whereby he performed this Obedience In this Obedience we have A Description of the Party obeying Act of Obedience 1. The Party obedient who was Abraham is described in reference to this Act of Obedience 1. As tempted 2. As having received the Promises 3. As one to whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called 1. He was tempted or tried The party tempting or trying him was God not that God tempts any Man to Sin but that he would try and manifest unto Abraham himself his Faith and Love to God that so he might be a rare Example in both to all future Generations who should be informed of it The means whereby he tryed him was by giving him this singular and extraordinary Command of sacrificing his Son Isaac This Command we read of in the Books of Moses and this it is Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and go thou to the Land of Moriah and offer him there upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of Gen. 22. 2. The End of this Command was to try whether Abraham loved God or his Son Isaac more The Effect of it was an Obligation of Abraâ—â— to perform this Service and to offer his Son Neither in this was God's preceptive Will contrary to his decretive Will for the decretive Will binds God absolutely to do that which he hath decreed and is indispensable but the preceptive Will bound only Abraham to do this yet so that God reserved a Power to dispense with him and to hinder the Performance And this was fulfilled instantly upon the signifying of his Will unto Abraham who instantly upon the Knowledg thereof was bound whether he did or did it not There was no decretive Will of God or Intention that Isaac should be slain and offered This Command was just and no wayes contrary to that other Command of God Thou shalt not kill for though it 's true that it is unjust and contrary to that Law for any Man to take away the life of a party innocent not guilty of any Capital Crime which is the thing there forbidden yet it is just and God may justly command Man to take away the Life of such an innocent Person And the reason hereof is not only this that that Law did not bind God but only Man but because he is the Supream Lord and hath absolute Power of Life and Death which no Creature hath or can have Again he could restore Life taken away which Abraham could not do nay it was above all created Power So that the Reason whereby God in this Command is freed from all Injustice is taken à Potestate Potentia Dei for his Power was absolute and supream and his strength was Almighty 2. Abraham had received the Promises of the Land of Canaan of a numerous Posterity sufficient to inhabit it of Christ in whom all Nations should be blessed 3. He was fully assured by God that in Isaac who was the Son of Promise all these Promises should be fulfilled For God had excluded Ismael and that peremptorily and had several times expresly signified that in Isaac and his Posterity and in none else these Promises should be accomplished Neither need we here trouble our selves about the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it may be turned to whom that is to Abraham or of whom that is of Isaac it was said c. This was the Description of the Party obeying The Act of Obedience was this that he offered up Isaac he offered up his only begotten Son that Son of whom it was said In Isaac shall thy Seed be called The Sacrifice commanded as commanded was bloody and required the Death and
liveless and sonsless This is the deficiency of the Body from which the Metaphor is taken For the deficiency of the Soul in the profession of the Christian Faith is intended and signified by these words therefore is added the word mind that is lest you â—e â—â—ary and faint in your mind This implies that there is a divine spiritual or moral strength and fortitude of the mind whereby it 's enabled to endure Persecutions and Contradictions though many and long continued Yet as the Body so the Mind may be wearied faint yield ly under the burden and entertain thoughts of forsaking the Faith and at length forsake it indeed And this was the Devils design to tire and weary them out that so they might be willing to renounce Christianity the Profession whereof was so toublesom 2. The Remedy here mentioned whereby this sad Event might be prevented was to consider what Contradiction Christ suffered from Sinners and yet endured with Patience to the End This through the Sanctification of God's Spirit would refresh strengthen and revive them And here we must observe that some are of so poor a spirit as that they will yield before their Strength fail them some are lazy and love their Ease some are negligent and make no use of such Helps as God hath put in their power and this is a great Sin in any of us who profess the Faith of Christ and it tends to Apostacy For God requires whilst we have any strength to use it 3. Therefore they are exhorted to use the means and consider Christ's Patience and Constancy and following his Example not sink under a far leighter burden seeing he did not shrink under a far more heavy Temptation § 4. Besides the Example of Christ which they must consider there is another Reason Ver. 4. Ye have not yet resisted unto Blood striving against Sin THough this may seem to be another distinct Reason from the former yet it may be a Branch of the same For Christ had resisted to Blood which they had not done Yet there may be something more in the Text for not only Christ but also other Saints far inferiour to Christ had been faithful unto Death and had sealed their Profession with their Blood This was no more than Duty and God required it at their hands and to faint and fall off before that Period was agrievous Sin This therefore presupposeth that it was their Duty to resist unto Blood and to suffer far more than yet they had endured therefore they must go on In the words we have two Propositions 1. They did strive against Sin or they did suffer striving against Sin 2. In striving against Sin they had not yet resisted unto Blood 1. By Sin is not meant any kind of Sin but some one principal and far above the rest and its Apostacy called so Antonomastik 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s by way of Eminency It 's true that it 's a general Duty of all Christians to strive against all Sin for we are no sooner regenerate and have renounced the Devil and the World and bid desiance and proclaimed eternal Feud and Hostility but we are fearfully assaulted and after that time our Life is a continued Warfare hence the many fearful Conflicts between Flesh and Spirit within us The Events of this War are many and various but the final Issue is a total final eternal Victory The great Design of Satan in this Battle is to shake our Faith in pieces for then if that be done the Conquest is compleat Therefore said our Saviour to Peter Simon Simon Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he might sift you as Wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Luk. 22. 31 32. And if Christ should not strengthen and support no Man could stand Therefore we should remember and consider what our condition is it 's a state of War and not of Peace and we are environed continually with potent vigilant and cruel Enemies which seek our temporal and eternal Ruine in this respect we must alwayes sight and strive with all our Power and stand continually upon our Watch pray for help and humbly depend upon our God and of all other things let us keep our Faith If that be safe all is safe and all other Sins pardonable but if that be lost all is lost and our case is desperate 2. Yet in this War they had not resisted to Blood By Blood is meant Death and a violent taking away of Life and though they had resisted stoutly and suffered much yet their lives were safe Reproaches and loss of Goods were grievous yet Life is very precious and the best thing we have in this World it 's far more than Goods and these temporal Estates and Man will do much and give much to save it In this respect Death is said to be so terrible as the greatest of all temporal Evils Upon this he urgeth this Duty of Perseverance in Resistance because their Life was due to Christ and whosoever will not lay it down for Christ's sake cannot be his Disciple For if any man saith Christ come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Seeing therefore their Duty was to do and suffer far more than yet they were put unto they should not faint under the loss when they were bound to beaâ— the greater burden And as this was their Duty so it 's ours and if we think it unreasonable to be put unto so hard Service to resist even unto Blood if God require it let us consider that Christ suffered cruel pains and laid down his Life for us that many of God's Saints did cheerfully suffer loss of all earthly Comforts and of life it self that if we lose our life which is but mortal and momentany we find a Life immortal glorious and for ever blessed that we resist and strive not for our temporal Estates Wives Children earthly Country but for our eternal Safety Peace and Happiness that our Sufferings though far greater than they are yet are but leight and for a moment but the Glory which will follow is exceeding and eternal and will make amends for all Lord encrease our Faith and strengthen our hearts in the hour of Temptation § 5. The next Argument is taken from the Nature of their Sufferings as they are Chastisements upon them from God as a Father chastning every Child according to his Wisdom for their Good and Happiness wherein they end for the end of them is Peace This Argument we find proposed first and then excellently polished It begins Ver. 5. And ye have forgotten the Exhortation which speaketh to you as to Children My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked ef him IN these words with those that follow unto Ver. 14 we may observe 1. Something presupposed 2. Something expressed 1. The thing presupposed is
a Text found in the Old Testament and here alledged and applyed to these Hebrews 2. In that which is expressed or expresly delivered we find three things 1. The manner how this Text is brought in and applied 2. The Text it self 3. The Apostle's Discourse upon the same 1. It 's brought in by way of Reprehension for they are charged with forgetfulness of an Exhortation of a Father to them as Children This informs us 1. That the words are an Exhortation 2. This Exhortation is directed unto them 3. It 's directed to them as Children 4. They had forgotten it 1. The words are an Exhortation To understand this we must consider both what an Exhortation is and also how these are an Exhortation An Exhortation in Scripture hath alwayes for Object some Duty commanded by God and is a stirring up of Man to the Performance of the Duty and that the Will may be more effectually moved the Performance is urged upon powerful Motives That they are an Exhortation may easily appear if we understand the general nature of all Exhortations and consider the Portion of Scripture whence these words are taken wherein we find the wise man pressing many and weighty Duties The word it self here used in the Greek doth sometimes signify a Consolation and such the Text is sometimes an Exhortation and such it may also be Yet in strict sense it is a Dehortation for it 's Negative despise not faint not and to despise the chastening of the Lord and faint under his Rebuke is an Evil a Sin which is forbidden in God's Law and here dehorted f om But yet as every Negative implies an Affirmative so doth every Dehortation an Exhortation to some Duty and the Duty here exhorted to is to take our Sufferings as Chastisements from God and to bear his Rebukes patiently 2. This Exhortation is directed to them for so it 's said The Exhortatien which speaketh unto you It 's true that the words are the words of God written by Solomm and seem to be directed more immediately to the People of God in his time yet this is a certain Rule that when a Duty is ordinary and general and of general Concernment and commanded in the Scriptures by God the universal Law-giver then it concerns all men so that no man can be exempted nay further if it be not only universal but also perpetual it binds all men of all timos And in this respect it may be said that what God speaks to one he speaks to all like that of our Saviour What I say to you I say to all Watch. Therefore we must understand this as spoken even to us as well as to others of former times This therefore would be our wisdom that when we read or hear of exhortations to duties of universal and perpetual Obligation to apply them to our selves and to make full account that God in them doth speak to us 3. It 's directed to them as Children This he infers from the word my Son where word Son though singular must be taken collectively so as to include the whole body and community of Sons both all joyntly and every one severally without exception This implies a special Relation such as is between Father and Children and also the love and authority of a Father and the Duty and Obligation of a Child Yet there are many kinds of Sons as natural adopted amongst men and also spiritual who are related unto God and such are here meant Such all should be but many are nor some are These are made by spiritual Regeneration and gracious Adoption and so soon as any shall sincerely believe in Christ they are justly Sons and so in this special manner related to God The matter of the Exhortation is such that it must be directed unto them and them alone 4. This they had forgotten It was their duty to have remembred it yet they did not For 1. It was forgotten this was a sin 2. They had forgotten it this was their sin and therefore so charged upon them by the Apostle actually to remember this expresly at all times was impossible neither was it required yet in time of Affliction when God's chastising and rebuking hand was upon them they should have thought upon it But it was not necessary to remember these very words but the thing contained in the words neither is the remembrance here required meerly speculative and an act only of the Understanding but it 's also practical For they must so remember the Duty as to do it memory without this is to no purpose This seems to imply that we are bound to understand the word of God in Scriptures necessary to Salvation and often to call to mind that which we do understand § 6. Thus the Text which we find Prov. 3. 11. is brought in and now the matter is to be considered wherein we have 1. The compellation 2. The exhortation it self 1. The compellation is sweet and comfortable for the person speaking and calling unto us is God as a Father the parties called unto are sinful men as children This implies a great condescension and a special love on God's part and a near relation and happy condition on mans part How low did the glorious and eternal Lord of Heaven and Earth descend to look upon respect and love poor mortal man dust and ashes who had defaced his Image imprinted upon him and was become his Enemy To redeem him with the precious Blood of his only begotten Son to call him regenerate him adopt him and make him Heir of an eternal Crown was matter of astonishment to Angels And how much is this silly and unworthy Creature honoured and how much is his estate advanced by this Relation How deeply is he engaged and obliged to eternal gratitude and obedience David might well admite and say Lord What is man that thou takest knowledg of him or the Son of man that thou makest account of him Psal. 144. 3. This compellation my Son is full of comfort and should be a mighty motive and incentive unto perseverance in the midst of greatest Sufferings 2. In the exhortation it self we may consider 1. The Duty exhorted unto 2. The Motive unto performance 1. The Duty is 1. Not to despise the Lord's chastening 2. Not to faint under his Rebuke In the first we may take notice 1. Of Chastisement and Rebuke 2. Of not despising not fainting 1. Chastisement and Rebuke are here taken for the same and signify their Sufferings from their unbelieving Brethren yet so that in the Book of the Proverbs they signify any Afflictions suffered by God People The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to restrain or correct by instruction admonition chiding threatning punishing So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to blame or reprove Both these are either verbal or real by words of the Mouth or violence of the Hand and here both may be meant and especially the latter The former word used in the Greek seems
to allude to the institution and education of Children who are sometimes more severely corrected not only by Words but by the Rod. The cause of Rebuke and Chastisement is some fault or offence the end is correction and reformation in respect of the former they are Punishments in respect of the latter Corrections in themselves they are Afflictions and sometimes they are Tryals God's Children have their failings ignorances negligences and sometimes are guilty of more hainous Sins In respect of these God as a Judge doth punish as a wise Master tryes them as a loving Father corrects them and by these doth prevent Sin for time to come stirs up to heavenly Duties makes them more penitent for Sin past more careful of themselves and prepares them for their possession of their eternal Inheritance Though they may truly be said to be Punishments because grievous for the time yet they are more properly Chastisements and Corrections because the principal thing intended is their future good As they come from their Persecutors they are Wrongs as from God they are Effects not only of his Justice but chiesly of his Mercy 2. To despise is to think them fortuitous and to bear them with a stupid or sensless mind and not consider and understand they come from God that the end is repentance and amendment that the cause is sin or if we understand these things not to repent and reform but continue and harden our hearts in sin For this is not to regard God's chastising hand so as to make right use of our Sufferings To faint under these is to be weaty of our Profession and to incline to Apostacy because our Sufferings for it are so grievous and of so long continuance And in this negative Dehortation is implied an affirmative Exhortation and the Duty exhorted unto is to make the right use of our Afflictions by reformation of our selves and a patient and constant Suffering unto the end For God's desâ—â—n in these is to prevent Apostacy that we may not be condemned with the World § 7. The Motive and Reason inclining us to performance followeth Ver. 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth overy Son whom he receiveth AS for the translation of these words there is some difference between the Hebrew Copies which we now have and the Septuagint which the Apostle followeth For the Hebrew readeth That God correcteth even as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth but the Sâ—ptuagint otherwise That he chastenth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Some think that the Hebrew Copy which the Seventy translated differed from that which we now have Yet notwithstanding the sense of both for the matter and substance is the same For to chastise a Son whom he loveth and in whom he receiveth is to correct and scourge as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth The words must be considered 1. In themselves absolutely 2. As a reason of that which went before 1. In themselves the matter and subject of them is the castigation and correction of Children And here correction and chastigation of every Child whom God receiveth is the Effect and his love is the Cause and from this Cause and love of God is inferred the Effect the Chastisement of every Child The Propositions are two 1. God loveth and receiveth some as Children 2. He chastiseth every one whom he so loveth and receiveth 1. This Love here intended is a Love wherewith God loves us as Children which is the greatest and most tender love of all others and presupposeth another love antecedent whereby he Regenerates Adopts and makes us his Children this latter is a Love of benevolence and good will issuing from his own Goodness and that most freely The Object of it is Man as sinful ungodly an Enemy in whom there is nothing amiable and sit to move God to love us The former is a Love of complacency after he hath made us amiable and a sit Object of Love This Reception may either be an admission of us into the number of Sons which is adoption or his acceptation of us and delight in us once adoped and this seems here to be intended This paternal love and acceptation is the cause 2. The Effect is Chastisement For to correct chasten and scourge a Son here are the same And here it 's to be noted 1. That the Subject of this Castigation is Every Son 2. That it 's an Effect of Fatherly Love 1. It 's proper to a Son for though he may punish and afflict others yet he doth not chastise them And as it 's proper unto Sons so it agrees to every Son not any one of them is excepted for as all are castigable so all are castigated in one kind or another in a greater or lesser measure 2. That this Castigation is from Love because it tends conduceth and is in some sort necessary to our spiritual and eternal good God knows both our condition and disposition that both are such that they require Chastisement and Correction without which we are in danger of many Sins and of Apostacy to be prevented Yet the principal Cause of prevention is the sanctifying Spirit which alwayes makes use of the Word and many times of the Rod of Correction which will not be laid aside wholly whilst God's Children are in the Flesh But in Heaven where there is no danger there is no Use of it any more because them we shall be sanctified fully and for ever This is the meaning of the words considered absolutely but if we refer them to what went before we shall find them to contain a Motive and a Reason to perswade us to perform the Duty exhorted unto And the force of it is very great for if our Sufferings be from God as a Father and out of Love to us as his Children tending to our good and no Child of his is exempted from them then we should not despise them not faint under them but God himself saith they are such This Reason is more distinctly and particularly unfolded and urged in the words following § 8. Thus you have heard 1. How these words are brought in 2. What the Matter of them is Now 3. Follows the Apostle's Discourse upon them Ver. 7. If you endure Chastening God dealeth with you as with Sons for what Son is there whom the Father chasteneth not Ver. 8. But if ye be without Chastisement whereof all are Partakers then are ye Bastards and not Sons THis Discourse is grounded upon these words of the former Text He chastiseth every Son and informs us that God by his Chastisements doth evidence his Fatherly Affection towards us and that he accounts us his Children and not Bastards The Reasons which he finds in the former words of Scripture are reducible to three The first is taken from his Fatherly Affection manifested in Chastisements The second from God as a Father different from all earthly Fathers even in chastening us The third is taken from the Issue and
Effect of Chastisements In the first the Apostle makes this his Principle that chastening is proper to every Child of God and so proper that it agrees to none else From hence he argues to this purpose If God chastiseth all Sons and only Sons then if you endure Chastening he dealeth with you as with Children But he chasteneth all Sons and only Sons Therefore if you endure Chastening he dealeth with you as with Sons The Assumption that he chasteneth all Sons and every Son we find in the latter end of Ver. 7. That he chasteneth only Sons is implied Ver. 8. For Explination I will 1. Reduce the whole into Propositions 2. Inform you of the principal Conclusion inferred from the whole The Propositions are these 1. With those who endure Chastening God dealeth as with Sons 2. There is no Son whom the Father chasteneth not 3. They who are without Chastening whereof all are Partakers are Bastards and â—as Sons These Propositions are made in Thesi though we find them here in Hypothesi as applyed to these Hebrews In the first Proposition we have 1. The Antecedent 2. The Consequent 1. The Antecedent supposeth them chastened or enduring Chastening for these may be the same because enduring may be suffering so as that in and under Afflictions they may be considered as only passive Yet sometimes to endure may be a vertuous Act of the Soul receiving and bearing Affliction as a Chastening from God for Affliction may be sent from God as a Chastisement and for Correction and yet not so received by Man Thus God complains of his People They received not Correction they turned not to him that smote them God dealt with them as a Father but they proved undutiful Children When God doth accompany his Chastisements with the sanctifying power of his Spirit so that Reformation followeth then the Party chastened may be said to endure Affliction not only passively but actively too 2. This presupposed and granted the Consequent of this first Proposition is that God dealeth with them as with Children that is out of Love he chasteneth them for their spiritual Good which he intends because he will not suffer Sin to ly upon them lest it prove their Ruine The Chastening issues from Love and the End is their Benefit and Good for such is the Chastening of a wise and good Father This is necessarily consequent upon the former granted For if he chastise any so that they are corrected then he doth the part of a loving Father and thereby manifests that he accounteth them as Children The second Proposition There is no Son which the Father chasteneth not Here it 's expressed Interrogatively For what Son is there whom the Father chasteneth not Where the Rule That a negative Interrogation is a vehement Affirmation holds good This may be understood of an earthly or an heavenly Father if of an earthly then it 's to be understood of wise and good Fathers not of such as are careless or ignorant or foolishly indulgent as too many such there be And of such if they have many Children they deal thus with every one and all such Fathers deal thus with their Children And as this is true of all wise earthly Parents so much more is it true of our heavenly Father For there is not any Son of his who needs Correction but he correcteth him otherwise he did not love him The rational or causal Conjunction for doth intimate unto us that when it 's said He dealeth with you or useth you as Children that by Children he means all and every Child of his The third Proposition They which are without Chastisement whereof all are Partakers are Bastards and not Sons Here it 's put Hypothetically and the Proposition is Connex yet so that it may be extended to an universal Categorical This takes for granted according to the former Proposition that all are Partakers of Chastisement for all the Sons of God are corrected This presupposed the Antecedent is that some are without Correction or Chastisement that is God suffers them to go on in their Sins and in his just Judgment permits them to go on to their own eternal undoing The Consequent of this is that all such are Bastards and not Children and so accounted of God who denies his Mercy unto them No 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bastard may be either a Son illegitimate or if Legitimate yet degenerate or one that is no Son or if a Son yet not so accounted not so acknowledged Many such there be who profess themselvs the Children of God and bear that glorious Name yet are not truly and really such and God doth deny them therefore it 's said that they are Bastards and not Sons where it 's implyed that by Bastards are meant such as are not Sons of God either in his account or indeed The Consequence is clear enough for if all Sons are Partakers of Chastisement and some or many are without then such as God chasteneth not are not his Sons they are Bastards and to be such is the saddest condition of all others for no man in this Life can be in a worse or more miserable It 's a sad and woful thing for a Child to be left unto himself and suffered to go on in untoward courses but far more sad it is for a Man to be suffered to go on in Sin without any Chastisement or Correction There is no Hope of such God seems to cast them off desert them leave them to their own Lusts deliver them unto Satan and then they must needs perish It 's evident God loves not such nor intends their everlasting Salvation but leavs them with the World to be condemned with the World Blessed be that God who takes a more special care of us and when we need corrects us and so deals with us as with Children 2. The Conclusion which he intends to infer from this is That if God out of a Love as a Father chasteneth us as he doth every Son and only his Sons then it 's our Duty not to despise the Chastening of the Lord nor to faint under his Rebuke § 7. The second thing observed by the Apostle is that God is a Father as is implyed in the Text where we are called his Sons and if we be his Sons then he is our Father in chastizing us and far above our earthly Fathers and that in chastizing For thus he argues Ver. 9. Furthermore we have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits and live Ver. 10. For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness THese words are virtually an Exhortation for by the clear manifestation of the Duty he exhorts us to performance The Duty is subjection to God our spiritual Father Chastising us The reason of this Duty is delivered by way of comparison
and Beeing but to be happy For as bitter Pills and Portions and also correcting Plaisters may effectually cure our Bodies motrally wounded or diseased so the Lord's Chastisements may heal our sick Spirits and so prevent spiritual Death and Punishments And as the Patient must be willing to receive bitter Pills and Potions for recovery so must we chearfully submit unto our heavenly Fathers Correction for our eternal safety and felicity § 11. Thus far the absolute consideration of these words Now follows the Comparison which presupposing some agreement in quality as in quanity of imparity For if we be bound to obey and reverence our earthly Fathers correcting us then we are bound to obey and be in subjection to our heavenly Father chastening us The reason is because as they so he hath power over us But this is not all for if we are bound if to them much then to him much more They are only Fathers of our Flesh and Bodies and have only a correcting power over them but he is the Father not only of our Bodies but also of our Spirits and hath an absolute Dominion over both not only to instruct counsel command but also to correct and his Correction tends not only to our temporal but our spiritual Health Safety and Happiness This the Apostle makes evident in the 10th Verse Where again we may consider some things 1. Absolute concerning our Earthly Heavenly Father 2. Comparative The words absolutely considered inform us 1. That our earthly Fathers for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure 2. That God our heavenly Father chasteneth us for our profit that we may be Partakers of his Holiness 1. In the former Chastisement we may observe 1. It 's short and for a few dayes 2. It 's arbitrary after their own pleasure 1. It 's short because it continues only for the time f our Child-hood and Minority when we are most apt to go astray and least able to direct out selves In these tender years Children may receive any Impression and that more easily than afterwards then the Foundation of Vertue or Vice is laid and if Children have their Liberty be neglected and left unto themselvs they are most subject to be corrupted Therefore theâ— they have most need of Correction and may be more easily kept under yet many times it falls out that Fathers devoid of Wisdom and not considering what is best and most truly good for their Children out of Passion and rashly not aiming at the choise End do correct them And the more Power they have and the less Resistance there is the more arbitrary and irregular their Chastisements prove so that as the time of their Chastening is short so it 's not regulated by the Dictates of Reason but follows Fancy and false Imaginations of the mind which many times represents as just and good that which indeed is evil and unjust The Intention of the Apostle in these words is to manifest the imperfection and deficiency of humane Castigation whereby it differs from that which is divine For 2. God chasteneth â—â— for our Profit that we may partake of his Holiness This is the Perfection of God's Correction which is not for a few dayes but continues for term of Life till he hath made us perfect and done his whole Work upon us It 's always regulated by his perfect Wisdom issues from purest Love tends unto and ends in our Happiness It 's no wayes arbitrary for he never chasteneth but when he sets cause and knows certainly that it will be good for us All this is implyed in these words for our profit where by profit we must not understand the good things of this World and the great Mammon which so many worship but some better thing some spiritual and divine benefit which in a word is a Participation of God's Holiness which Clause seems to be exegetical that we might know what he meant by Profit For whatsoever tends to make us spiritually better more like to God and more capable of Communion with him that 's true Profit God's Holiness may either be that whereby she is holy in himself oâ— that whereby weare holy He in himself is essentially infinitely and eternally holy most glorious excellent and pure in himself For the Holiness of God is sometimes taken for his Excellency and Glory sometimes for his Purity and perfect Righteousness in which respect it 's said That he is Light and in him is no Darkness so that he cannot sin be impure or unjust and therefore may be said to be Holiness it self As he is holy in himself so he is the Efficients and Fountain of Holiness to us for he makes us holy yet our Holiness is from him by participation and participated by us is more his than ours To be Partakers of his Holiness is either to be made holy as he is and so purified from Sin or being made holy to have Communion with him in some degree here or fully and for ever hereafter This Holiness is communicated to us by Chastisement accompanied with the Sanctisication of the Spirit for that 's the end whereaâ— God aims and the Effect which he produceth in his Children His Love doth set him on work his Wisdom directs and his Almghty Power effecteth that which his Love desireth This is the Absolute Consideration the Comparative followeth and that in quantity inequal for he argues from the less unto the greater For if they had with Patience endured their earthly Fathers chastizing them for a few dayes after their pleasure how much more should they with Patience and all humble Subjection endure their heavenly Father chastizing them in Wisdom for their everlasting Good This is a place which teacheth all Children their Duty towards their Parents chastening them and they must acknowledg their Power humbly submit unto it and be thankful unto them and their God for this good Work without which they might have been more wicked and more miserable And all Fathers should know that their Children are trusted in their hands by God not only to be instructed but corrected and in this part of Education they must imitate God and chasten them wisely in Love for their good The principal thing to be remembred is that seeing it is God that doth chastile them and in this manner and for their greatest good therefore they should not faint in their Sufferings for their Profession § 11. The Apostle proceeds further to discourse on the Text in Proverbs which speaks of Chastisement Of which it might be said that it 's a matter not of Joy but Grief and how then can it proceed from Love and be any wayes beneficial By way of prevention he resolvs this doubt in the words following Ver. 11. Now no Chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby BY these words we learn what the End and Effect of the Lord 's Chastening is
God with a profane and wicked heart some serve him ignorantly or negligently without servency and due affection The Pharisee could give Alms Fast Pray pay Tythe of Mint Anniseed Cumin and neglect the weighty things of the Law as Justice Judgment Mercy they could and did draw near to God with their Lips and yet be far from God with their hearts they served God but according to the Traditions of men The Jews were zealous and devout in Ceremonials yet their hearts were polluted and their hands full of Blood Therefore we must know that no profane man or hypocrite or indisposed person can serve God acceptably To do this doth presuppose man in the state of Grace and an heart prepared and rightly disposed the person must first be accepted before the work can please God And as the Person so the Service must be rightly qualified and so it is when it proceeds from Faith in Christ is conformable to the Word of God and tends unto his Glory And if We and our Service be thus qualified though our infirmities be many yet so great is God's mercy that for Christ's sake he will accept both us and it we must not presume upon his mercy but yet we must rely upon him when we have a special care to shun that which offends him and do that which is just and holy and when we have done our best humbly in the Name of Christ pray for pardon of defects and acceptance of our sincere endeavours Yet we cannot serve God thus acceptably without reverence and godly feat Reverence in God's Service looks at his excellency and glorious Majesty and at our own unworthiness and the infinite distance between Him and Us and therefore we must adore God's excellent Majesty with deep humility abasing our selves very low being afraid and ashamed out of a sense of our own vileness to come near him except in his great mercy and free grace he vouchsafe access Signs of this reverence is cut kneeling bowing covering our faces prostration and such like gestures And if we were either apprehensive and sensible of our own vileness or God's excellency how could we possibly be so profane and unreverent in his Worship Godly fear may be the same with Reverence or distinct from it The word in the Greek signifies sometimes caution sometimes devotion sometimes fear and that in the Service of God which is a religious fear and care not to offend but to please him Both reverence and fear in this place may farther be a more then ordinary care and diligence in the Service of God that we may please him and be accepted of him For as the greatest honour with the greatest humility is due to God that Supreme Lord whose Majesty is infinite and eternal so the greatest caution must be used in his Worship for he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him 3. This is the manner how he will be served by all such as are admitted Subjects of this unmoveable and unchangeable Kingdom The reason is He is a consuming Fire These words are improper and metaphorical and a Metaphor is a contract Similitude which here we find In such Comparisons we may observe 1. The things compared as like and agreeing 2. The thing wherein they do agree The things here compared are God and Fire God is like to Fire The thing wherein they agree is this that they are consuming So that the meaning is That God is like unto Fire and he is like to it in this that as That so He hath a consuming force Many are the qualities and effects of Fire but this one is singled to represent the terrour of God For though that flery Law which God gave out of the midst of fire burning up to Heaven be removed yet in the Gospel of sweetest mercy and freest grace there are threatnings of unquenchable Fire and eternal Flames Therefore this expression signifies his punishing and vindictive Justice the Subjects whereof are profane impenitent and unbelieving persons who are disobedient to the Law of Grace and refuse the tender of saving mercy The effect of this Justice upon these Offenders are severe and everlasting punishments which cannot be expressed or conceived but are represented by the raging flames and â—â—erce burning of the most violent Fire which cannot be quenched And as the torment of violent hottest flames is the most grievous so these punishments are and if the Sufferers be immortal and immortally sensible the Torment will be not only grievous but perpetual The sum is that the punishment of delinquent and disloyal Subjects which the Judge shall execute and they suffer is extreme and everlasting The force of the Reason is great for as men tremble to think of everlasting tormenting and consuming Flames so let them have a special care to serve God unto the end in due manner This implies that there is a glorious Reward of eternal Light and delight to all such as shall like loyal Subjects continue constant unto the end in the profession of the Truth and the acceptable Service of this glorious and eternal Soveraign CHAP. XIII § 1. PRofession without Practise Faith without good works cannot attain the fruition of that eternal Life which Christ hath merited and God hath promised therefore the Apostle in this Chapter exhorts to Love good Works constancy in the Truth and other Duties He begins with Love Ver. 1. Let brotherly Love continue THe Analysis of this Chapter is easy for we have 1. The hortatory part thereof 2. The conclusion of the whole The Duties exhorted unto with several Motives are reduced to a kind of order by divers Expositors Yet as this is not exactly done so it 's needless to do it We may indeed enumerate the Duties and reduce them to their proper places and heads in the Body of Divine Wisdom and that is very easie to be done Yet the Wisdom of the Apostle was this that he doth not mention all Duties but such as were most requisite at that time to be performed by those persons and doth not strictly follow the method of the moral Law but takes liberty to place them in that order which he thought most convenient For he knew the performance of them to be the principal thing and it was sufficient for him to press them and then to know them The first Exhortation is to brotherly Love The Duty is 1. Brotherly love 2. Continuance in it Brotherly love is love of the Brethren For there are Brethren and these must be loved To love our Neighbour as our selves is the substance of the second Table of the moral Law And as there are several degrees of Neighbours so there is of Love Neighbours in full extent include Strangers Enemies and all such as are capable of our Love Of these some are more nearly linckt unto us as Brethren Yet these are either natural political or spiritual here spiritual Brethren are meant who have God to be their Father Jerusalem above to be their
Mother are born of the same incorruptible seed animated with the same Spirit of Christ and partakers of a divine Nature This spiritual consangunity is a principle of spiritual Love and this Divine Nature an object of a more ardent affection Though therefore we must love others truly and as our selves yet these if we be Christians we must love more then others And though we know no man's heart and reins yet such as appear and manifest themselves by their profession and practise to be Saints we must love as Brethren and though they be not such and we mistake yet our Love is acceptable to God This Love is not only a complacency in them and an esteem of their persons as having more of God in them then other men but we must effectually desire their good and happiness and when occasion serves really promote it It must be a real and a giving and a suffering love For as Christ laid down his Life for us so we must lay down our Lives for the Brethren And we must not love only in word and tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3. 16 18. By vertue of this Love there is in us a secret Sympathy which will manifest it self by rejoycing with them that rejoyce and mourning with them that mourn Yet this spiritual Love and divine Affection is found in few and it 's not so fervent and effectual in us as it should be Self-love and love of the World do much abate it And as the Brethren love the Brethren so the World hates them and counts them their greatest Enemies This is the love we must love them but this love must remain and continue in them This doth presuppose that they formerly had loved them and that was evident enough for they had ministred unto the Saints and did minister Chap. 6. 10. and became Companions of such as were teproached Chap. 10. 34. And their Duty was that as they had begun so they should go on and love to the End Life and Love must end together whilest we live we must love the Brethren And the words are not onely Paul's Exhortation but God's Command and the same universal and binds us as well as them § 2. The second Duty is Hospitality Ver. 2. Be not forgetful to entertain Strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares VVHere 1. The Duty is to entertain Strangers 2. The Motive is Because some have thereby been so happy as to entertain Angels unawares The Object of this Duty is Strangers the Duty it self is to entertain them the Cayeat is Not to forget so to do Strangers in this place may be either Christians or others both are an Object of Charity but especially the former We are Strangers when we are from home in another Place or Country where we have few Friends are not well known And being amongst Strangers where we have neither harbour nor other necessaries we must needs be in a miserable Condition and a proper Object of Hospitality Though this extends to others yet it 's principally understood of such as in these times were persecuted and scattered in strange Countries and being spoiled of their Goods were in great necessity not knowing sometimes where to have the next Lodging or Morsel of Bread These are principally meant and must be entertained To entertain them is freely to take them into our Houses and according to our ability supply their Wants for where should these receive Comfort or Relief but with Christian Brethren Some might pretend themselves to be such and that falsly and so abuse the Charity of well-meaning Christians yet there were several wayes whereby poor Christians and their sad Condition might be known And if they were once known we must not forget this Duty to forget is to neglect it not to forget is to perform it The Motive or Reason is this That by the performing of this Duty some have entertained Angels unawares The Persons who are here understood were Abraham and Lot both pious and righteous men of great Civility and Humanity and such as considered the Condition of Strangers as being Strangers themselves and dealt with them accordingly These received and entertained Angels who being sent by God did appear first to Abraham then to Lot Their business was to destroy Sodom Gomorrah and the Cities of the Plaines Yet in the Execution of this Judgment God remembred Abraham and Lot and according to his tender care of them gave these Angels a Charge and Instructions to preserve them They first came to Abraham in the appearance of men and of Strangers and as such he invites them and entertains them in the same manner they came to Sodom where they were invited and entertained under the same Notion yet they were truly and really Angels though conceived to be Men Therefore is it said they entertained them unawares that is though wittingly and willingly they received them as Men yet they knew them not at first to be Angels The force of this Reason to perswade Hospitality is 1. In respect of the Guests 2. Of the benefit they received by them 1. It was an Honour and a special Grace that the glorious blessed immortal Inhabitants of Heaven should enter their Houses and Tents accept of their Invitation and be so familiar with them 2. In respect of the benefit they received by them for first they came from Heaven to Abraham to let him know his Wife Sarah should bear him a Son and within a short time God would perform his Promise unto him This was a great Blessing much expected and desired of a long time and now determined assuredly to a certain Period within the present Year besides God acquainted him by these Angels with his Intention to destroy Sodom and yet upon his Intercession to save the Righteous in it and this Prayer may be conceived to be effectual for saving though not the City yet his Kinsman in it Lot also had the Honour and the Benefit too for by his blessed Guests he was saved not only from the cursed Sodomites but from the Flames that destroyed that City Yet it may be said What was this to these Hebrews or What is it to us It was a rare thing and not expected of these Saints and beloved Servants of God Yet it is much to us for by the receiving Strangers out of Faith in Christ and Love to God we may receive precious Saints and with them some blessed Angels which have a special Charge to keep and guard them in that condition and if a Cup of cold Water shall be rewarded how much more will so great a Work of Mercy be remembred Nay which is more by receiving them we receive Christ who will acknowledg this kindness as done to Him For in the day of final Judgment He will acknowledge before all Men all Angels and his heavenly Father that this Work of Mercy done to His was done to Him § 3. Yet there is another Work of Mercy which he exhorts them unto
in this manner Ver. 3. Remember them that are in Bonds ' as bound with them and them which suffer Adversity as being your selvs also in the Body IN this Exhortation we have as in the former 1. The Duty exhorted unto 2. The Reason why we should perform it In the Duty there be 1. Some Persons to be remembred 2. The Remembrance of them 1. The Persons are of two sorts and the Reasons applyed severally 1. There are Persons bound and here we must consider 1. Their Condition 2. The Cause 1. Their Condition in general is miserable in particular they are restrained of their Liberty which is a precious thing The misery of them that are bound may be greater or less according to the place of Imprisonment or their Usage or Absence from such as would relieve them or some other Accidents The Place may be a Dungeon or filthy and nasty or very grievous in respect of the wicked fellow-Prisoners Their Usage may be very bad because they may be denyed Food and other necessaries their friends not suffered to come to them or relieve them or they may be scourged and abused They may be so consined as that their Friends may be ignorant both of the Place where they are and also of their Condition 2. The Cause in this place may imply that they are Christians and God's Servants thus Paul and Silas and Peter and many other Disoiples were cast in Prison and that for the Profession or Preaching of the Gospel this was to suffer for Righteousness sake and for Christ's sake and in a good Cause This Imprisonment if just was a disgrace a securing of Malefactors not only to restrain them from mischief but to reserve them for Trial and Punishment and sometimes it was a Punishment in it self and was never intended for innocent but for criminous and guilty Persons These must be remembred and their Case and Cause considered that so they might be visited comforted encouraged relieved or released eased and delivered Thus to remember is an Act not only of the Understanding but the Will and also the Executive Power so that the word is taken both Metonymically and Synechdochically 2. They and so we must remember them as being bound or in Bonds This implies the Manner how they must and also a Reason why they must remember them We must love our Neighbour as our selves and this we cannot so well do except we make our selvs ohe with them and make their condition ours so as that we may do as we would be done unto In particular when we seriously suppose our selvs bound even then when we are free and at Liberty we are made far more sensible of their misery and are the more effectually moved to Compassion therefore some observe that Misericordia est miseria aliena in corde nostro For when the Misery of others is not only in our Memory but in our hearts we are affected with it sensible of it and moved to relieve and comfort them This is the manner of Remembrance The Reason implied is That seeing they are one Person with us and our Brethren if they be bound we are bound with them because one part of us is in Bonds and as we would be sensible of our misery and would use all means to release and relieve our selves so we should endeavour to help and deliver them They are part of our selves therefore we must remember them Again we are one with them so that we are in the same Condition with them so far that we are obnoxious to Bonds as well as they and we know not how soon it may be our Case and this should perswade us much to do our Duty For we being in Bonds will stand in need of the help of others and of them if they be set at Liberty when we are bound The second Duty is to remember those that are in Adversity This implies that there are many kinds of Afflictions besides Bonds for that is one kind of misery and that of Bonds is not alwayes single but joyned often with other Vexation and Adversities Therefore not only they that are in Bonds but others in other Adversities must be remembred and so relieved and comforted and we must use all our Power and Ability which God hath given us to remove their Afflictions and make their Condition more comfortable For the Providence of our heavenly Father doth so order it that the whole Body and all the Members of the Church should not be afflicted at one time but whilest some are afflicted others are free that they may relieve and comfort their Brethren and so exercise their Grace and manifest their Vertues And the Afflictions of our Brethren will discover either our sincerity or hypocrisy The Reason why we should remember these is because we are in the Body To be in the Body and to be in the Flesh are Scripture-Phrases and signify the same thing They imply that there are some in the Body and some out of the Body the one living the other dead For while we are living on Earth the Soul which is the principal part is in the Body which is said to be the Tabernacle and Mansion of the Soul But Death separates them and divests and dispossesseth the Soul This Soul in it solf is above the Power of Man and no mortal hand can reach it not touch it immediately yet because of the Body which is so nearly united unto it men may vex and torment it and that very much and whilest it 's in the Body it 's liable to these Vexations and the Body whilest it 's enlivened by the Soul is sensible of many miseries But when these are parted by Death both are free from all sense of these Afflictions Therefore said our Saviour That when men have killed the Body after that they have no more that they can do Luke 12. 4. All this being presupposed the Apostle to perswade them to Compassion towards their afflicted Brethren puts them in mind of their present condition They were yet in the Body that is they were obnoxious to the same Adversities and cannot promise to themselvs security from them for a day or an hour therefore they must pity them as themselves and use all means to comfort help and deliver them Thus to remember our Brethren in Bonds and Adversity is the Duty of all such as profess their Faith in Christ and own the Name of Christian yet few perform what by their Profession they are bound to do Where are our Bowels of Compassion Where is our Christian Charity We should remember that as Christ pitied us so we should pity our distressed Brethren and shew Mercy unto them as we desire God in the time of our distress to have Mercy upon us But many who are Christians in Name are devoid not only of Christian Compassion and Charity but of Humanity and Civility which have bin found in very Heathens and Mahometans § 4. These were Duties which we owe unto others especially
to our Christian Brethren and now the Apostle exhorts to Duties of another kind as first of Chastity Ver. 4. Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed undefiled but Wheremongers and Adulterers God will judg VVHere we have 1. A Duty which is Chastity and Fidelity in Marriage 2. The Reason why we should be chaste and that is because Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judg 1. The Duty is expressed in most Copies and Translations Indicatively not Imperatively for it 's not said Let Marriage be honourable in all c. but It is honourable Yet this is not material for suppose the Indicative-Reading should be true yet a Duty is plainly implied for 1. The Texts both antecedent and consequent are hortative to Duties 2. That Marriage should be honourable and the Bed be undefiled is certainly a Duty and an Exhortation thereunto is implied 3. The Reason added doth prove as much The Duty exhorted unto is Chastity and Chastity is two-fold first of single then of married Persons This is of married Persons who according to God's Constitution and their own Contract give their Bodies one unto another and are bound to be faithful And this Fidelity is to preserve the honour of Marriage which they do whilest they keep the Marriage-Bed undefiled When it 's said Marriage is honourable and the Bed undefiled the meaning is Marriage ought to be honourable and the Bed ought to be undefiled Not only Adultery but also Fornication and all Uncleanness dishonour the Body and this is evident from these words of the Apostle For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification that you should abstain from Fornication That every one of you should know how to possess his Vesselin Sanctification and Honour 1 Thess. 4. 3 4. Where we may observe that by Vessel according to the Hebrew is meant the Body 3. That by Sanctification in that â—lice is understood Chastity as opposed to the Lust of Concupiscence 3. That this Sanctification is the Honour of the Body therefore when it 's said That he that commiâ—â—eth Fornication sinneth against his own Body 1 Cor. 6. 18. the meaning is He dishonoureth his own Body As Marriage must be honourable so the Bed must be undefiled which latter words explain the former for then is Marriage honourable when the Marriage-Bed is kept undefiled For by Bed is meant the Marriage-Bed and the Bodies of the Parties married to be undefiled is not to be polluted by Adultery And if it be it 's dishonoured if it be not then the Honour of it is preserved So that the sense of the whole is this Let married Persons be faithful one unto another and take heed of dishonouring their Bodies by Adultery To signify this Duty to be general and to bind all such as are Man and Wife he faith Marriage is and by God's Institution ought to be honourable in all that is in all married Persons both Man and Wife whilest they are Man and Wife And as it ought to be honourable so it ought to be undefiled in all In these words Whoredom and Adultery are prohibited and ehorted from This Chastity is the Duty of Christians more than of other Persons because they know God's Institution and their Bodies are the Members of Christ and the Temples of the Holy Ghost 2. The Reason and Motive is because Whore-â—ougers and Adulterers who dishonour their Bodies and defile the Marriage-Bed God will Judge that is punish So that the Dissuasive is à Poena from the Punishment which God will certainly inflict and they shall certainly suffer if they be not chaste but prove guilty of Adultery This Punishment is not only eternal after this Life if they repent not but also temporal even in this Life though they may repeht This is evident in David who though he repented yet suffered grievously for his Adultery More of Marriage Chastity Adultery may be read in my Thâ—c-Politica § 5 The fifth Duty pressed upon them followeth Ver. 5. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have For He hath said I will never leave thee nor for sake thee Ver. 6. So that we may boldly say The Lord is my Helper I will not fear what Man shall do unto me IN these words we must consider 1. The Duty 2. The Reason why we should perform it The Duty is 1. Negative Be not covetous 2. Astirmative Be contented For if we look at the Law and so consider the words they are 1. A Prohibition 2. A Precept If we look upon the Performance of the Duty as expressed by the Author we have 1. A Dehortation 2. An Exhortation The Dehortation is this Let your Conversation be without Covetousness The meaning whereof in brief is Be not coveâ—ouâ— The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned by our English Translators Conversation by the Viugar and Vatablus Mores Manners by the Syriack and Arabick Mens Animus the Mind All these may be easily reconciled for Conversation signifies humane Actions as they are habitually morally-good or evil these as Habits are termed by the Moralists Mores Manners or Customs as vertuous or vicious And because the Principle of these Actions are the Mind as taken for the Understanding and the Will therefore the word may be turned mind or affection for so the word in Greek doth sometime signify Some do understand by the Original word the means whereby we seek these earthly things and the manner how we use spare or spend them And this sense differs not much from the former This Duty doth presuppose 1. A right Judgment of these worldly Goods in respect of themselves the end for which they are given the manner how they are justly acquired used expended 2. A right disposition of the heart agreeable to this Judgment These things presupposed we may the better inquire into the nature of Covetousness which is defined by many to be An immoderate love and desire of these earthly Goods The object and matter therefore in general is these earthly Goods whether corporeal movable or immovable or incorporeal according to the distinction of the civil Law These are considered as conducing to the preservation and continuance of man's Life therefore called our Livelyhood The principal things as most necessary and more immediately preserving Life are Food and Raimenâ— And because Mony answers in value and the esteem of men all those things which may be called Goods and by It upon exchange they may be purchased and acquited therefore covetousness is called sometimes the love of many 1 Tim. 6. 10. And here our Conversation must be free from the love of mony so the Original is The proper act of Covetousness is in the heart and mind of man conceiving and judging of these things as more necessary or excellent then they are which is a kind of overvaluing and setting too high a price on them 2. Affecting loving and desiring them immoderately above the worth of them and that measure which God hath